Tuesday, October 25, 2011

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2. You Should Invest in Digital Specific Gear
The number one question I get asked by readers is what they should have in their toolkit. My answer is always dependent on what kind of cameras they shoot on.
The tools you use for a film camera are different than the ones you use for a digital camera. There is overlap, of course, but there is also gear that is specifically useful for one format and not for the other.

Netflix lost 800,000 U.S. subscribers in third quarter | Ryan Lawler | Gigaom
According to management, the “primary issue is many of our long-term members felt shocked by the pricing changes, and more of them expressed that by canceling than we expected.” It's trading at 188 today, down from a high of 300 a share in July.

Netflix ended the quarter with 21.45 million streaming customers, compared to the 21.8 million it expected. It also had 13.93 million DVD subscribers, compared to the 14.2 million forecast.

Magic Bullet Mojo - Sale | Red Giant
Red Giant is offering a limited half-off sale on Mojo, it's easy-to-use colorizing tool for Final Cut, Motion, Premiere Pro and After Effects. The price is $49 (down from $99.) No word on when the sale ends.

Getting Started with DaVinci Resolve Lite - Free | Class On Demand
If you're interested in Blackmagic's DaVinci Resolve Lite (the free version of Resolve) you can get free access to Class on Demand’s "Getting Started with DaVinci Resolve Lite" training.

Learn how to get the best out of your free Resolve software with world-class training for the product absolutely free. Leveraging Class on Demand’s training expertise, Bob Sliga’s brilliance as a color-grader and our state-of-the-art on demand training platform, select the chapter you need and watch your free training instantly.

'Avengers' Was Not Shot With An iPhone | Josh Wigler | Splash Page
Director of photography on The Avengers, Seamus McGarvey has corrected an earlier erroneous report that certain portions of The Avengers was shot on the iPhone. He had, in fact, talked about the iPhone and Canon 5D II, but then said that scenes were shot with the 5D. This somehow got quoted incorrectly.
Of course, now that the iPhone 4S supports 1080P, someone probably will soon use it to shoot scenes for a movie.

Now the 4 and 4S are VERY different in terms of feel. The original 4 has a very punchy contrast and saturation. The 4S is warmer looking with better dynamic range and more natural colour but is far less contrasty and it has a less eccentric ‘LOMO / HOLGA’ style lens than the 4. This new 5 element lens is a bit more ‘proper’ – i.e. clinical. The funky rose petal lens flare is gone, which is a shame in my opinion.

The HD HERO2: 2x as Powerful in Every Way | YouTube
A promotional video for the new camera Hero2 camera from GoPro announced yesterday:

Recording of live presentation for MacVideo.TV “The right camera for the right job…” | Philip Bloom | Blog
Last week Philip gave a presentation at the Royal Society of Medicine for MacVideo.TV entitled “The right camera for the right job…” where he covers a variety of cameras, from the PMW-F3, & Panasonic AF100, to Canons, RED Epic and the Sony NEX-5. It's been posted in two parts; the first is 22 minutes long. The second part will be posted shortly.

The birth of the iPod | Benj Edwards | Macworld
A fascinating account of the birth of the iPod; I didn't realize how much of a shoe-string production it was and how dependent upon outside companies and experts they were to produce it in a very quick time.

But what intrigued me the most was this little tidbit:

Apple approached creative app giant Adobe to author a simple, consumer-friendly movie editing application, but Adobe declined. That’s when Apple decided to create iMovie and feature the Mac as the center of a “digital hub” strategy, where the Mac served as the nucleus of an ever-expanding digital media universe.